Re: [BardonPraxis] Re: Mundane Relationships

["Rawn Clark" <rawnclark@...>]

Dear Allen,

>> My friend recommended that I might volunteer to help less fortunate
people - he believe it really helps one to connect more to people and
develop a deeper love for mankind. <<

It can, but not when it's done for selfish reasons. If it's just about
what *you* can get out of it and not about simply *doing for others*,
then it's not *giving*. Instead, it's just a more subtle version of
*taking*. Giving is what breeds compassion, not taking.

>> During my meditations last night, I was reminded there are people
like Victor Frankl, who did not judge his captors and managed to create
peace from within. Quite a mighty feat considering his circumstances. <<

The key to this is the recognition of yourself in others. This begins
at the level of the mundane self. For example when you encounter some
one who is stuck in a very petty, surface-of-existence life, you see
your past self which was at one time living that same sort of life. You
remember how painful and bleak that was, compared to now and you feel
compassion for their plight which was once your own. You see some one
who is swept away by their anger and you see all the times that you too
were swept away. In other words, compassion for another is first the
recognition of how much alike you are, and then the love you feel for
your own self pours forth into the one you are like because of your
commonality.

As the individual consciousness expands and the memories of one's past
incarnations surface, one experiences commonality with just about every
act imaginable, from the most horrific to the most sublime. And when
the awareness merges with the Divine, you share commonality with *every*
thing, *every* who, what, when, where and why.

My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
21 Nov 2003
rawnclark@...
rawn@...
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